APOLLO'S LUNAR EXPLORATION PLANS

Planning for Lunar Exploration

Homer Newell set lunar exploration planning in motion in 1962 with the
appointment of the Sonett committee on Apollo scientific experiments and
training [see Chapter 2]. After three
months of consultation with leading experts in the scientific fields
related to lunar exploration, the committee outlined its conception of
the scope of Apollo lunar science. The primary objectives were
examination of the lunar surface in the immediate area of the landed
spacecraft, geologic mapping of the landing area, investigation of the
moon's interior by means of emplaced instruments, studies of the lunar
atmosphere, and radio astronomy from the lunar surface.7 No specific experiments were recommended, but
the criteria used in developing the objectives limited the
possibilities. The experiments should be scientifically important and
feasible, possible only on the lunar surface and only with a human on
the mission, and likely to lead to further scientific and technological
development.8

A week after the Sonett committee issued its draft report, NASA
committed Apollo to lunar-orbit rendezvous. This decision, probably the
most thoroughly debated of the entire program, directly affected the
scope of lunar science. The mission mode determined how many men and how
much equipment could be landed on the moon. Whereas the other possible
modes (direct ascent and earth-orbit rendezvous) contemplated a single
large spacecraft that would land with its entire three-person crew on
the moon, lunar-orbit rendezvous would put down a separate specialized
landing craft and a crew of two.9

With that decision made, Associate Administrator Robert C. Seamans, Jr.,
asked Newell to present several questions to NASA's outside scientific
advisers for discussion. What should be the preferred scientific
objectives of the earliest lunar landings? Would the acquisition of
scientific data require more than two persons on the moon at the same
time? Were there sufficient scientific reasons to establish a
semipermanent station on the moon for extended exploration? Advice on
these questions would be important in establishing policy with respect
to lunar science and could have direct influence on the design of the
lunar landing craft.10

An appropriate forum for such a discussion was already in session that
summer - the first summer study conducted by the Space Science Board,
meeting on the campus of the State University of Iowa [see Chapter 2]. Manned space science programs
were not the study's primary concern, but two working groups, one on
lunar and planetary exploration and one on the scientific role of humans
in space, provided opportunities to examine the plans for Apollo's
experiments and put some of the scientists' concerns on record.11

At the start of the summer study the chairman of the Space Science
Board, Lloyd V. Berkner, instructed the participants that their advice
on the existence of a national space program and the division of effort
among its projects was not sought. Nonetheless, because of mounting
fears for what it would do to NASA's space science budget, Apollo was
never far below the surface, and objections to the manned programs were
repeatedly voiced. Berkner, Newell, and others tried to steer the
discussions into more productive channels, such as how the capability
being developed for Apollo might be exploited for scientific purposes;
but many of the participants could not be dissuaded from protesting the
priority assigned to the lunar landing project.12

Seamans's questions were aired, in substance at least, and the summer
study's final report contained recommendations concerning the points he
had raised. The working group on the scientific role of humans in space
endorsed the findings of the Sonett committee but recommended that
experiments that only used the moon as a base for observation (e.g.,
radio astronomy) be relegated to later missions. It found that there was
indeed a valid scientific requirement for a lunar surface laboratory for
long-term investigations. The working group on lunar and planetary
exploration reached similar conclusions and called for increased
emphasis in the Ranger and Surveyor programs on providing necessary
engineering information for Apollo.13

Of much more concern to the summer study participants was the scientific
competence of the men who would land on the moon. Acknowledging a
continuing need for astronauts whose primary skills were in spacecraft
operation, the study report nonetheless urged the inclusion of a
professional scientist among the crew of the first lunar landing
mission. To ensure that such a person would be ready for the first
landing, NASA should recruit qualified scientists at once and begin
training them as astronauts. The science community insisted that these
scientist-astronauts be given the means to maintain their scientific
competence while acquiring piloting skills. To that end, a space
institute should be established convenient to the astronaut training
center, a facility "of the very highest scientific calibre [maintaining]
liaison with major centers of research in the space sciences [and
functioning] as a graduate school offering advanced degrees in various
fields of science." It should either be operated "under contract with a
major university" or administered by "that office of NASA responsible
for scientific research and planning,"14 (i.e., the Office of Space Sciences). This
"space university" proposal - which Newell later remarked never had the
slightest chance of being accepted by NASA15 - was soon abandoned, but the demand for
scientist-astronauts was reiterated by the science community right down
to the end of the Apollo project.

With the modifications made by the Iowa summer study and with the
imprimatur of the National Academy of Sciences, the Sonett committee's
recommendations formed the framework of Apollo's initial lunar science
planning. Shortly after its establishment in July 1963 the Manned Space
Science Division promulgated the first scientific guidelines for Apollo,
which reflected this preparatory work. The primary scientific activity
was to be the study of the moon itself. First priority among the various
lunar studies was given to geologic mapping, followed by collection of
samples for return to earth and emplacement of instruments to return
data by telemetry.16

7. "Draft report of the Ad Hoc Working
Group on Apollo Experiments and Training on the Scientific Aspects of
the Apollo Program," Charles P. Sonett, chmn., July 6, 1962.

8. L. D. Jaffe, "Minutes: Ad Hoc Working
Group on Apollo Scientific Experiments and Training, 23 April 1962," no
date.

13. National Academy of
Sciences-National Research Council, A Review of Space
Research, report of the summer study conducted under the auspices
of the Space Science Board at the State University of Iowa, June 17-Aug.
10, 1962, NAS-NRC Publication 1079 (Washington, 1962), pp. 11-4 to 11-5,
4 to 10.